Canal Plus reporter Laurence Haim said irritated White House staff told the journalists it was “not the done thing” to take a picture of oneself with a mobile phone with two heads of state in the president’s official office.

One particular picture was doing the rounds of French media outlets on Wednesday, showing Thomas Wieder, a reporter at respected French daily Le Monde, grinning broadly as he took a “selfie” with Hollande and US leader Barack Obama in the distant background. . .